Our View: A case of bad judgment all-round

IT’S HARD to keep track of the extent of double standards emanating from all quarters over the confiscation of part of a photo exhibition by Greek trans and gay activist Paola Revenioti at the old Nicosia municipal market.

The exhibition, named ‘Correction’, featured photographs of males – some naked – taken by Revenioti during the 1980s and ‘90s.
According to gay rights group Accept-LGBT Cyprus, all reasonable measures were taken to avoid disrupting the market during working hours, or offending the public by covering the photos. But it seems all did not go to plan and at least one of the pictures briefly lost its cover. Police wasted no time after receiving complaints, and went in that same afternoon.

They did not need to be so heavy handed as to confiscate the photos and declare they would use them as evidence in the prosecution of Accept-LGBT’s Costas Gavrielides, whom they charged.

They could have simply had a quiet word either with him or with the Nicosia municipality to move the technically-illegal photos out of sight altogether until evening. Considering every single kiosk on the island openly sells magazines with naked women, police need to rethink their attitude towards the double standards at play here.

Gavrielides could have tempered his outburst when he said: “The confiscation opposes every form of artistic expression that does not comply with the old-fashioned ideas by the police and the state as to what is art.”

Who decides what is art, the artist or the audience? And if only half of an audience thinks something is art, doesn’t that mean it’s not art to the other half? When it comes to art, there is a tendency for those who are into it to dismiss everyone else’s opinions.

Choosing to see an exhibition with young naked men is of course the prerogative of those who view it as art. But given the content, and even the slimmest chance that something could go wrong, some thought should have gone into holding it at a private venue from the beginning.

At the same time, the internet ‘justice warriors’ who have been criticising police for confiscating the pictures of the naked men are the same people who would criticise them for not confiscating photos of naked women because in their view objectifying women as sex symbols is bad and they simply must be victims of exploitation. Shouldn’t the same standards apply to photos of naked men? Are they not being objectified too?

The general public also need to accept that not all art consists of rainbows and unicorns and that paintings of naked women have been on public display since the dawn of time as have some very famous statues of naked men.

This was a case of bad judgment on the part of Accept-LGBT, the Nicosia municipality – which has remained largely silent – and the police who should have used a bit more common sense, ensuring the entire fuss could have been avoided.

I’m very sorry to say, dear Cyprus Mail, your view is self-destructive and I very much disagree with it. You see, those who *want* to be offended, will find a way to *be* offended and there’s nothing you can do about it. To constantly live in the fear that someone *might* be offended, and I better censor myself, deprive myself of my freedom of expression, is frankly, in my opinion, a terrible thing to do.

Lexikologist

“At the same time, the internet ‘justice warriors’ who have been criticising police for confiscating the pictures of the naked men are the same people who would criticise them for not confiscating photos of naked women because in their view objectifying women as sex symbols is bad and they simply must be victims of exploitation. Shouldn’t the same standards apply to photos of naked men? Are they not being objectified too?”

How do you know this? Have you actually asked them what their opinions of images of naked women are?

And, in a “sexist” and homophobic world can’t you tell the difference between eroticised images of women by a man and eroticised images of men by a man? Similarly with eroticised images of women by a woman.

Bluestorm

Those who wish total freedom in art should move to New York; but watch out from the muggers as you walk to the art gallery.

Plasma Dawn

You must have not been in NYC in ages. It is now a safe city, far from what it used to be in the 70s or 80s.

Bluestorm

In fact I have never been in
New York,but I have read that:

As of October 29, there were
849 shootings in New York City, a 23 percent drop from the same period in 2012,when there were 1,145 shootings.

A safe place indeed!!

Plasma Dawn

849 shootings were not necessarily all murders, definitely not all muggings. In a city of 8.5 million that crime rate comes down to 0.01% which is quite respectable.

No_Name12

As I said before Cyprus has a long history of censorship in art.We only have to remember the Akamas film and the Rooftop theater play. If you go further into the 90s and before you will find much more harsh and interesting examples.

We are of course at a much better situation today, but still lag behind by millenia on art and censorship. What happened was unacceptable and could had easily been avoided if police asked for the removal of the photos until the exhibition time, since after all if they were publicly shown in the market prior to the exhibition, it was by mistake. Interestingly, artistic censorship historically has took place on art forms that challenged the Christian Orthodox moral values and the nationalist interpretations of history and of society.

Nothing like this happened in the summer when an artistic exhibition took place for a week in the Peace hall at the end of Ledras (property of the municipality), which included some rather shocking and brutal theater plays, for Cypriot standards (the exhibition was organized to raise awareness for slavery in Cyprus).
The police, or any other public authority, should not have the right to decide what is immoral and what is moral. Either define it in precise terms in law, or abandon the vague concept. I could not care less what individuals think as immoral in the republic – if that’s how this law is supposed to work, half of the population would had been suppressed by this point.

Joanna Ramos

Totally agree with the double standard issue. I’m offended by pictures of naked or near naked women displayed even on pharmacy windows, for God’s sake! This blatant demeaning of females is wrong. This brings me to what is good for one sex should be good for the other. We need to make up our minds about this issue.

No_Name12

People are afraid of the human body around here. The genitalia are somehow evil or degrading or whatever. Our good old tradition in Orthodox Christianity helped a lot with that.

Bystander

I believe there’s too much public attention being drawn to these issues, thanks to politicians, police and other public institutions. If it is not declared as prohibited by law – just let it be.
There are other issues worth attention, such as ambelopoulia poaching, illegal hunting of all sorts, cruelty against animals, child abuse, human trafficing, drugs etc etc.

Walden

There will always be OTHER issues worth attention whatever the issue because some OTHER person will say the exact same thing you just said for an issue you believe is worth attention. So you either pay attention to this issue or you move on to the next issue you think is ought to be given attention. No need to spend time and energy for an issue that you think is not worth paying attention to. Unless you like telling people what they should pay attention to

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